Machines for washing continuous textile lengths



R. C. GRIMES Aug. 25, 1964 MACHINES FOR WASHING CONTINUOUS TEXTILE LENGTHS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 29, 1963 IIVVE/Y FOE gas-5E7 C GQ/MES R. C. GRIMES Aug. 25, 1964 MACHINES FOR WASHING CONTINUOUS TEXTILE LENGTHS Filed Aug. 29, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 .5 w L l United States Patent 3,145,554 MACHINES FOR WASHING CONTINUGUS TEXTILE LEN GTHS Robert Charles Grimes, 46 Gerrard St., London W. 1, England Filed Aug. 29, 1963, Ser. No. 305,499 3 Claims. (Cl. 63-22) This invention relates to improvements in machines for washing continuous lengths of textile and other materials and is particularly applicable to washing lengths of cotton fabric towelling such as the soiled rolls of towelling unloaded from towel-dispensing cabinets. It relates to machines of the type which employ a framework having mounted therein a plurality of horizontally disposed squeezing rolls between which the pre-soaked length of material passes, said rolls being mounted in vertical line one above the other and associated with jockey or outrigger rolls on each side of the squeezing rolls to enable loops of the material to be formed in zig-zag fashion and to be held tensioned while cleansing liquid for resoaking the material is applied to the loops. In this type of machine a succession of squeezing and re-soaking actions are applied to the material as it is drawn through the machine. When the invention is applied to washing soiled towelling this is originally rolled in continuous flat web form, and although this could be treated in such a flat web form it is advantageous to bunch and twist it longitudinally in irregular folds to form a so-called rope which gives more body for squeezing, and for convenience the continuous length of material will be referred to as a rope.

The present invention concerns the liquid supply and distributory system by means of which the rope is initially soaked with cleansing liquid in a reception soaking tank on entering the machine and subsequently sprayed during its travel through the squeezing roll assembly. The primary object is to ensure in an efiicient manner that there is a continuous flow into the reception tank, with overflow control and discharge either to waste or to another machine arranged in series, and also to feed a closed spraying ring situated adjacent the roll assembly so as to direct jets on to the zigzag rope loops formed between the squeezing rolls and the outrigger rolls. The liquid may be plain water hot or cold with or without alkali, soft soap, soda or other cleansing constituents, and is referred to herein as cleansing liquid.

It will be observed that mention has been made of discharge to another machine arranged in series. In this respect a complete washing installation will generally include more than one machine, for example four, connected by the said liquid supply and distributory system one with the other in series so that the rope travels from one to the other for washing in succeeding stages while the cleansing liquid travels in contra-flow to the rope. Thus, regarding the first machine of four into which the soiled rope is first fed as Unit No. 1 and the last one from which the rope finally emerges as Unit No. 4, the latter receives the fresh cleansing liquid, which after use therein passes to Unit No. 3, then through Unit No. 2 to Unit No. 1. Consequently full value is extracted from the liquid resulting in economy of alkali or the like before it is discharged to waste from Unit No. 1, and as the rope becomes progressively cleaner from Unit No. 1 to Unit No. 2 and so on, it encounters cleaner liquid until in the last Unit (No. 4) it is being treated with fresh liquid. While the invention will, in most cases, be applied to such a series installation with cleansing liquid in contra-flow to the direction of rope travel, it is to be understood that a single machine or Unit is included in the invention.

According to the invention a machine for washing continuous lengths of textile and other materials of the type described is characterised by the provision of a liquid supply and distributory system comprising a reception tank for soaking the incoming soiled material, a control tank for receiving overflow from the reception tank, a supply pipe for filling the control tank with cleansing liquid, means to control the level in the control tank, a valve-controlled spraying device adjacent the squeezing rolls arranged to direct jets of cleansing liquid on to the material in the region of the squeezing rolls, a pump for drawing liquid from the control tank and forcing it into the spraying device and also into a pipe feeding the reception tank under valve control and also acting as a dis charge pipe. The last mentioned discharge pipe may, as already stated, discharge to waste or to the control tank of another machine.

The squeezing roll assembly with its associated jockey rolls may be of any suitable construction and arrangement and an assembly such as that described in co-pending application Serial No. 305,497, filed Aug. 29, 1963 has proved highly satisfactory.

An embodiment of the invention will be described by Way of example as applied to washing soiled towelling twisted in rope form as hereinbefore described with the aid of the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 shows diagrammatically a battery of four washing units and one rinsing unit in accordance with the invention; and

FIGURE 2 is a diagrammatic view, to a larger scale, omitting for convenience two of the washing units of FIG- URE 1, and including in diagrammatic form a squeezing roll assembly to indicate how the liquid supply and distributory system of the invention is associated with such an assembly.

Referring to FIGURE 1, five units No. 1 to No. 5 are depicted in series,-in which the rope of towelling is passed from Unit No. 1 in turn to Unit No. 2 and so on from the right of FIGURE 1, the four Units N0. 1- No. 4 being washing units, and Unit No. 5 being a final and rinsing unit. The cleansing liquid flows in contradirection to the movement of the towelling rope, i.e. from No. 4 back to No. 1, whereby the rope meets increas ingly clean liquid as it, itself, becomes increasingly clean. The Unit No. 5 works solo so far as the liquid circulation is concerned, merely receiving the washed rope for a final rinse. As mentioned already, for convenience of space, two of the washing units (Nos. 2 and 3) are omitted from FIGURE 2.

A unit includes a suitable framework indicated by the broken lines 1 on which a suitable squeezing roll assembly 2 and outrigger rolls 3 (FIGURE 2) are mounted together with electric motors (not shown) for driving the power-driven rolls of the assembly. A reception tank denoted generally by the numeral 4 is mounted on this framework and is of general J-shape with the long leg 5 of the J inclined out of the vertical and open at the top 6 for the reception of the soiled rope (shown by the simple line 7 broken in places where it is enclosed). The rope is fed in by feeding rolls or other suitable device (not shown) and descends to the curved part 8 of the J where it loosely bunches and folds zig-zag and otherwise to be drawn off by the squeezing rolls. It passes up through a guide eye 9 and, to commence, is threaded through the nips of the squeezing rolls 2, and around the outriggers 3, and finally led out for subsequent treatment or into a succeeding machine.

The curved part 8 of the J-shaped reception tank has a horizontal open top at 10 and is combined with an independent control tank 11, part of the wall of the reception tank being cut away to form an overflow weir 12 into said control tank 11.

In the washing units Nos. 1 -4 the control tank is filled with cleansing liquid through a supply pipe 13 terminating in a ball-cock valve 14 to control the level in the tank. In an installation including a connected series or battery of machines as illustrated the supply pipe 13 of the last unit (No. 4) of the series feeds the control tank of that unit from a supply of fresh cleansing liquid, and the supply pipes 13 of the remaining units-(Nos. 1-3) take their liquid from the preceding unit (i.e. preceding in relation to the flow of cleansing liquid) as hereinafter described. Alongside the control and reception tanks 11 and 4 respectively a pump 15 is installed to draw liquid from the control tank 11 and dispose of it as follows: the output from the pump is branched to supply a spray ring 16 and also through branch 17 to supply a flow of soaking liquid to the open top 6 of the reception tank 1 through a control valve 18. As well as keeping up the said soaking flow this branch continues either to run to waste (as with Unit No. 1), or-in the illustrated battery installation-to feed the control tank of the next machine in the series, Units Nos. 2, 3 and 4 doing this.

The said spray ring 16 is not necessarily circular in shape, and the word ring is employed in a general sense. In this embodiment it is of approximate rectangular form including two vertical legs with horizontally extending perforated spray arms, the ring being located at one end of the squeezing roll assembly with the perforated spray arms, indicated by small circles on the ring (FIGURE 2) being disposed so as to lie between the runs of the towel rope on their way to and from the outrigger rolls 3. The pump output to the ring 16 is provided with a valve 19 near the ring so that the amounts of spray liquid may be regulated.

If desired steam may be fed into the control tank 11, and with a series installation there would be a common steam line 20 (with a main On/ Off valve 21) branched into each control tank 11 through individual valves 22.

After washing the rope 7 it may be passed through a rinsing unit such as indicated as No. 5. This unit is much the same as a Washing unit, with the following exceptions. There is no separate feed such as 13 into the control tank, but it takes its supply solely from overflow out of the reception tank 4 and from the spray drainings. A separate pump 23 is employed to send a supply of cold water into the top of the spray ring which is blanked off as indicated at 24 towards the bottom. The pump 15, as in the washing machine, has one branch as before into the bottom of the spray ring but as this is blanked off there is no upward feed into the ring. The other branch 17 from this pump 15 feeds cold water, drawn ofi from the control tank 11, into the top of the reception tank 4 for soaking purposes as previously and also discharges surplus to a stock tank via branch 25 as the cold rinsing water is now fairly rich in alkali or the like rinsed out 'of the washed rope.

The particular roller assembly 2,3 forms no part per se of the present invention, and is only briefly described so as to show its position in relation to the liquid supply and distributory system of the present invention. Further 4 information regarding the roller assembly can be obtained from the aforesaid co-pending application.

I claim:

1. Machine for washing continuous lengths of textile and other material including a framework, a roll assembly consisting of a plurality of horizontally disposed rotatable squeezing rolls mounted in vertical alignment and two columns of horizontal jockey rolls also in vertical alignment laterally spaced from said squeezing rolls, one column on each side thereof, all said rolls being mounted on said framework, a liquid supply and distributory system for pre-soaking the material prior to passing into the squeezing roll assembly and resoaking the material as it loops between said squeezing and jockey rolls, said liquid supply distributory system comprising a reception tank for pre-soaking the incoming soiled material, a control tank for receiving overflow from the reception tank, a supply pipe for filling the control tank with cleansing liquid, means to control the level in the control tank, a valvecontrolled spraying device adjacent the squeezing rolls arranged to direct jets of re-soaking cleansing liquid on to the material in the region of the squeezing rolls, a pump for drawing liquid from the control tank and forcing it into the spraying device and also into a pipe feeding the reception tank under valve control and also acting as a discharge pipe.

2. A washing machine according to claim 1 in which the reception tank is of general J-shape with the long leg of the J inclined out of the vertical and open at the top for receiving the incoming soiled material, the curved part of the J having an open top combined with the control tank, part of the wall of the open top forming an overflow weir into said control tank.

3. A battery of washing machines each constructed according to claim 1 arranged in series including two end machines in which the soiled material can be fed into a first machine at one end of the series and passed progressively through intermediate machines for discharge out of the other end machine, the said cleansing liquid supply pipe for filling the control tank of the machine at the discharge end also supplying the remaining machines, said machine at the discharge end having means for discharging liquid used therein into the control tank of the next machine in the series, this latter having means for discharging liquid into the succeeding machine and so on up to the said first machine whereby the cleansing liquid travels in contra-flow to the movement of the soiled material.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 425,614 Klauder Apr. 15, 1890 2,700,287 Sulzmann Jan. 25, 1955 3,064,458 Grimes Nov. 20, 1962 OTHER REFERENCES German application H 23,080, printed Nov. 15, 1956 (KL 8a9). 

1. MACHINE FOR WASHING CONTINUOUS LENGTHS OF TEXTILE AND OTHER MATERIAL INCLUDING A FRAMEWORK, A ROLL ASSEMBLY CONSISTING OF A PLURALITY OF HORIZONTALLY DISPOSED ROTATABLE SQUEEZING ROLLS MOUNTED IN VERTICAL ALIGNMENT AND TWO COLUMNS OF HORIZONTAL JOCKEY ROLLS ALSO IN VERTICAL ALIGNMENT LATERALLY SPACED FROM SAID SQUEEZING ROLLS, ONE COLUMN ON EACH SIDE THEREOF, ALL SAID ROLLS BEING MOUNTED ON SAID FRAMEWORK, A LIQUID SUPPLY AND DISTRIBUTORY SYSTEM FOR PRE-SOAKING THE MATERIAL PRIOR TO PASSING INTO THE SQUEEZING ROLL ASSEMBLY AND RESOAKING THE MATERIAL AS IT LOOPS BETWEEN SAID SQUEEZING AND JOCKEY ROLLS, SAID LIQUID SUPPLY DISTRIBUTORY SYSTEM COMPRISING A RECEPTION TANK FOR PRE-SOAKING THE INCOMING SOILED MATERIAL, A CONTROL TANK FOR RECEIVING OVERFLOW FROM THE RECEPTION TANK, A SUPPLY PIPE FOR FILLING THE CONTROL TANK WITH CLEANSING LIQUID, MEANS TO CONTROL THE LEVEL IN THE CONTROL TANK, A VALVECONTROLLED SPRAYING DEVICE ADJACENT THE SQUEEZING ROLLS ARRANGED TO DIRECT JETS OF RE-SOAKING CLEANSING LIQUID ON TO THE MATERIAL IN THE REGION OF THE SQUEEZING ROLLS, A PUMP FOR DRAWING LIQUID FROM THE CONTROL TANK AND FORCING IT INTO THE SPRAYING DEVICE AND ALSO INTO A PIPE FEEDING THE RECEPTION TANK UNDER VALVE CONTROL AND ALSO ACTING AS A DISCHARGE PIPE. 